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He drinks Jack Daniels without ice - is in a bad temper and drunk. But Shane MacGowan remembers his childhood heroes....
Shane MacGowan and his band the Popes are backstage in "Studentersamfunnet" in Trondheim, Norway. Everybody, including the tour manager who is supposed to organise Shane's gang - is to say the least pissed. Shane, who already ten years ago was told not to drink brown spirits, drinks Jack Daniels. He looks ill. His face is gaping. His body is thin and lanky. He shouldn't really be here. And it doesn't seem like he wants to either:
Shane talks embarrassingly slowly and unintelligible. Every now and then he becomes rude, for soon to regret and take a lighter tone. It seems he is tired of life. But he is most tired of bloody journalists. -"Five records? You could as well ask for the five best books or the five best lays or the five best films or the five best drinks. Hopeless! Everybody likes music! Some records are better than others are. l'm not gonna answer your stupid question! "Pet Sounds" is my favourite Beach Boys-album. That's how it is. You journalists are always analysing and intellectualising and writing crap".
However when BEAT repeats - not the five best, the five most important, he quickly lists the titles, as if he had been thinking thoroughly for a while. Ah, Shane is happy for a while. But not for long:
"Do you play any instrument?" Shane looks hard on BEAT's man.
"I played drums for a while".
Shane agitatively pushes my tape recorder. "Why the hell do you do this shite , then?? You could have been a bloody drummer? Why the hell do you have to write crap??"
BEAT does the mistake asking Shane if he was one of the obsessed kids who scrutinized the record covers. Was he a music nerd?
Shane looks at me, in total shock. And he pushes my tape recorder again. "How the hell can you ask a question like that??? Ey???????? Do you love music???? How do you know I love music????? Are you just writing crap?? What the hell's the point with this fuckin' shite???
BEAT sighs. Then Shane is smiling again.
"Yeah, I used to wank on the covers and stuff like that. Collecting records. Of course I was obsessed. Aren't you??? Ey?? Aren't you??? I wouldn't be a bloody musician if I wasn't obsessed!!!
Shane laughs his incredibly dry cracked laughter. Keeerrrrrrrijjj.....As Shane would've said: Shite! The Five records:
1. The Jimi Hendrix Experience. "Axis: Bold as Love". Shane: "This record really changed my life. I nicked it. Or I stole the money to buy it. It blew me away, man. Why I didn't steal the album instead? Well, I didn't become as smart as you until later. The records cost £2 when I was a boy, so I usually bought singles. I got many singles for Christmas and Birthdays and stuff."
2: Bo Diddley. "16 all time Greatest Hits". Shane: "My parents really loved music. They were into jazz, country, trad. Irish, rock 'n' roll.... Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash. But not R 'n' B. I found Bo Diddley on my own. He meant a lot to me when I was young. Wild stuff. Rhythm."
3: The Dubliners. "A Drop of the Hard Stuff". Shane: "The one with Seven Drunken Nights. The Irish folk people were divided into two groups - the purists and the progressive. The rock fans didn't like folk. They didn't like their own music, their own tradition! Folk music appealed to "no-bullshit" people."
4. Tom Waits. "Rain Dogs" Shane: "I love everything with Tom Waits. Everything except "Frank's wild Years" All his records are a continuation of the last one. Waits has such a mad, pissed, dangerous feel. Rain Dogs was his creative highlight."
5. Sly and the Family Stone. "There's a Riot going on". Shane: "I heard "Dance to the Music" on the radio, on immediately became a fan. I like all the Sly albums. The Greatest Hits album is incredible! But not enough room for all you need of Sly. A weird and heavy album, you say? Well, he's a weird guy."